The end of an era: Strikepoint of Texas performs last concerts with director, founder Melanie Bankston

From Community Reports

Published 12:15 pm, Tuesday, March 12, 2013

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Melanie Bankston, right, with her husband, Buck Bankston, will be honored and direct her last concerts with Strikepoint of Texas April 4 and 5 as she has decided to retire. With her final concert performance, Bankston will conduct five charter members including Pat Brant, Sara Leach, Pam MacNaughton, Beth Moseman and Mary Jo Neidinger as well as a number of returning alumni.

Melanie Bankston, right, with her husband, Buck Bankston, will be honored and direct her last concerts with Strikepoint of Texas April 4 and 5 as she has decided to retire. With her final concert performance,

The end of an era: Strikepoint of Texas performs last concerts with director, founder Melanie Bankston

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Strikepoint of Texas’ annual spring concert will be unlike any other of their concerts as they pay tribute to their founder, Melanie Bankston.

With respect and gratitude, the two teams of English handbell ringers will perform one last time under the direction of Melanie Bankston, founder and musical director of Strikepoint of Texas Community Handbell Teams.

Strikepoint of Texas has begun preparations for their annual spring concerts April 4 and 5 at First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood.

The theme of the concerts this spring will be Strikepoint: Opus No. 44, a tribute to the 44 concerts Bankston has conducted for the Kingwood area community.

The music selections offered will be favorites from past concerts and new arrangements that are sure to entertain audiences.

Bankston founded Strikepoint of Texas in 1991 with 22 ringers. At various times in their history, the organization has had as many as 30 ringers performing as two teams, a morning team and an evening team.

With her final concert performance, Bankston will conduct five charter members including Pat Brant, Sara Leach, Pam MacNaughton, Beth Moseman and Mary Jo Neidinger as well as a number of returning alumni.

Over 150 ringers have rung with Strikepoint throughout the years coming from various communities throughout the Greater Houston area.

In addition to the two annual concerts presented by the group each year, the teams have traveled both at home and abroad.

Overseas performances have included venues in England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Austria and Belgium.

On the home front, Strikepoint performed a patriotic tour through the southern states in 1999 when they performed in Colonial Williamsburg, Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2002, they performed at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD as well as various venues in Washington, D.C. including a true “Kodak moment” in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

In 2003, Strikepoint traveled to Austin where they performed in the Capitol Rotunda at the invitation of Texas State Representative Joe Crabb.

In addition to the featured English handbells, Strikepoint’s concert performances have included a variety of vocal and instrumental soloists and accompanists through the years.

This spring’s concerts will be no different as this year’s performances will also feature additional accompaniment provided by organ, oboe, two flutes, timpani and a tenor soloist.

The spring concerts will be held at First Presbyterian Church of Kingwood, 5520 Kingwood Drive, with performances Thursday, April 4, and Friday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m.

Like their most recent Christmas concerts, tickets are not required, but an offering will be collected.

Bankston has enjoyed being a part of the performing arts community in the Kingwood/Humble area for many years.

After founding Strikepoint, she was awarded FamilyTime’s 1992 Women of Achievement Award for The Arts.

An active member of the Kingwood/Humble Music Teachers Association (KHMTA), Bankston has been teaching piano lessons in the area for the last 31 years.

She also enjoys serving as an adjudicator for the National Piano Guild Auditions each year. In addition, she has been an active member of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR)—now known as Handbell Musicians of America — and is a board member of The Greater Houston Handbell Association.

Her love of all things English created in her the desire to go the UK as often as possible.

So in 1998, she started her own specialty travel company, UK Holidays, and has enjoyed taking friends and music ensembles to Great Britain.

She is very pleased to be planning her 20th trip to the UK this summer before traveling on to Austria to attend the Classical Music Festival’s Piano Seminar in Eisenstadt, the home of Franz Joseph Haydn.

Bankston graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Music in 1975.

She is married to Buck Bankston, Band Director at Riverwood Middle School, who is in his 38th year of teaching band in Humble ISD.

They have two grown children: Heather Page who lives with her husband on the North Shore of Oahu and Andrew, a Marine Captain Osprey pilot, who is married and has two children, Nathaniel and Paige.

As the baton is passed to Bankston’s successor, watch for details and notice of auditions as Strikepoint of Texas Community Handbell Teams begin a new era and continue to share the art of handbell ringing throughout the Greater Houston area.